On Easter Sunday...
I had yet more reason to give thanks to God for the Oratory.
My mother had me drive her to the 8:00 am Mass at the local parish. While the priest was reverent, and the homily was quite good, the music was enough to make me want to run for cover. (BTW, the priest was not the pastor or his assistant, but a "retired" priest who lives near the parish and helps out sometimes. I point this out, because it makes it highly unlikely that Father had anything to do with the music selected, and I don't want the following to reflect badly on him.)
The opening hymn was O.K., but I noticed a dreadful, loud, nasal tenor voice coming from the front. We were seated in the back, and the only person I could see in that particular area was the organist. I assumed that the painfully bad tenor voice was his.
There was a 'refrain Gloria'- with most of it sung by guess who. That same tenor also sang a solo during the sprinkling (not the Vidi Aquam !)The psalm featured 'inclusive language', in which "God" was repeated many times in order to avoid referring to the Deity as 'Him'.
The true kicker came during Communion. The Communion Hymn was by David Haas ! To accompany it, the organist left the organ and sat down at the piano. To my knowledge, nobody sang, except the Terrible Tenor. However, when I glanced over, I noticed that the organist wasn't singing....
There was a cantor, whom I had not been able to see, due to the crowded pews. And the nightmare tenor voice was... hers !
I was still a bit stunned as the closing hymn(a St. Louis Jesuits piece) was sung. Now, I have a deep voice myself, but this lady really took the cake ! And after singing Hassler and Palestrina and Tallis, it was depressing to deal with listening to Haas, let alone Haas being done by a quasi-tenor accompanied by a piano....
I wonder if I should submit this to the S.M. M.M.H.D.H. ?
I had yet more reason to give thanks to God for the Oratory.
My mother had me drive her to the 8:00 am Mass at the local parish. While the priest was reverent, and the homily was quite good, the music was enough to make me want to run for cover. (BTW, the priest was not the pastor or his assistant, but a "retired" priest who lives near the parish and helps out sometimes. I point this out, because it makes it highly unlikely that Father had anything to do with the music selected, and I don't want the following to reflect badly on him.)
The opening hymn was O.K., but I noticed a dreadful, loud, nasal tenor voice coming from the front. We were seated in the back, and the only person I could see in that particular area was the organist. I assumed that the painfully bad tenor voice was his.
There was a 'refrain Gloria'- with most of it sung by guess who. That same tenor also sang a solo during the sprinkling (not the Vidi Aquam !)The psalm featured 'inclusive language', in which "God" was repeated many times in order to avoid referring to the Deity as 'Him'.
The true kicker came during Communion. The Communion Hymn was by David Haas ! To accompany it, the organist left the organ and sat down at the piano. To my knowledge, nobody sang, except the Terrible Tenor. However, when I glanced over, I noticed that the organist wasn't singing....
There was a cantor, whom I had not been able to see, due to the crowded pews. And the nightmare tenor voice was... hers !
I was still a bit stunned as the closing hymn(a St. Louis Jesuits piece) was sung. Now, I have a deep voice myself, but this lady really took the cake ! And after singing Hassler and Palestrina and Tallis, it was depressing to deal with listening to Haas, let alone Haas being done by a quasi-tenor accompanied by a piano....
I wonder if I should submit this to the S.M. M.M.H.D.H. ?
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